The Return to the Responsibility
by WritingxEqualsxHappiness
Summary: Years into the future, Bones reflects on what keeps her sane when she has to work a plane crash scene. Just a quick look at a moment in their lives. Oneshot.


**Here is a quick little instance of life with Booth, Bones, and their teenaged Christine, paying no attention to anything that has happened in the episodes other than that their child exists and is named Christine.**

**Enjoy!**

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The Return to the Responsibility

As Brennan drove home from the lab just before seven in the morning, with barely enough time to see her daughter before Booth drove her to school, she marveled at the sun rising over the trees in the distance. She hadn't been aware of time passing again, had been startled when Booth called her two hours earlier to say good morning. It had seemed like only minutes before that he had called so she could say goodnight to Christine around ten. But her task of processing the human remains of a plane crash was enough to have her mind reeling.

She hadn't participated in an NTSB case in years. The last one had been when Christine was in kindergarten and the shock of the overwhelming fear for her own child's safety had been terrifying enough to have her referring subsequent cases to her old interns, who had all obtained their PhDs by that point. Now that their daughter was in high school, she'd figured she would be able to detach herself with less difficulty and could handle the case. It was her duty as a forensic anthropologist to give the families of the plane crash victims closure, just as it was her duty to give the same closure to the murder victims she worked with. Murder victims were easier to handle, though. There were only a few at a time, not one hundred and twenty-three at once. One child homicide victim was not nearly as horrifying as forty-seven.

Brennan sighed shakily and swallowed hard past the lump in her throat. She had worked as hard and as long as she could through forty-four hours, and now all she wanted was to see her daughter. She drove down their street, faster than she should have because she could just barely make out movement in their driveway and panic was threatening to overtake her at the prospect of not getting home in time.

When she pulled into the driveway seconds later, Booth was standing outside his SUV waiting for her and their daughter was closing the front door behind her, backpack slung over one shoulder. Brennan quickly clambered from her car without turning it off and scarcely looked at her partner before heading straight for Christine. She watched her daughter's face light up at the sight of her mother and then had her wrapped in a tight hug that made her say "oof". She kissed the side of her head, reveling in the fact that she was alive and breathing.

"Did you finish?" Christine asked, her voice muffled by her mother's hair.

"Not yet." Her voice was slightly raspy, from both relief and not having spoken for hours, and she cleared her throat quickly. "I'm approximately halfway done, but I need to sleep for a little bit." She held Christine at arm's length. "Have a good day at school. Did you study enough for your biology test? I could drive you to school and quiz you on the way."

"I know everything there is to know about the skeletal system, don't worry," Christine said gently, patting Brennan's arm and kissing her cheek before moving to get into the SUV.

"I took the morning off," Booth said, coming over to his partner and pulling her into a one-armed hug.

Her first reaction was to tell him he didn't have to do that, but then she thought about sitting with him while their daughter was at school, just the two of them in the house for the first time in weeks, and thanked him instead. She smiled and kissed him thoroughly, a hint of things she wanted to follow when he got back, and let him get into his car. She waited until he had pulled out of the driveway, waved at Christine as they moved down the street, and then went back to turn her car off and retrieve her bags.

She dropped everything inside the door and sat on the couch to wait for Booth. The exhaustion was present at the front of her mind now that she'd seen that her child was still alright and she slumped against the arm. She would sleep for a few hours, shower, and head back to the lab to continue processing the mangled bodies. She didn't have to hand these cases off, she just had to find a balance between working hard and taking breaks to go home and be with her family. She was still capable of performing all aspects of her job, and that final reassurance allowed her to fall asleep easily before Booth returned. She knew he wouldn't mind waiting until after her nap to enjoy her company.


End file.
